housemate or housemaid
by jeannethethird
Summary: one sho. Kira Hiroto moved into a condominium per Midorikawa's request to focus on his work better. And together with the condominium, he got a housemate that will take care of his welfare and housechores in exchange of living at the place. Fortunately and unfortunately, he was his friend, Afuro Terumi's cousin, and his rival company's second heir. warning, unbeta-ed.


Hiroto had never been the kind of rich people who wasted on unnecassary wealth like pent houses, villas and summer houses. So, when he bought a condominium in favour of running away from his piling workpapers, he didn't expect this situation the least bit.

Don' t get him wrong the posh condominium he bought was a nice 2ldk suite complete with self-decorate study- of course Midorikawa was the one who managed the decorum- on thirtieth floor from fifty floors and the scene of Tokyo at the balcony during night cannot be fit into words.

The problem is, he thinks he got the floor wrong. In the supposedly second bedroom upstairs, on the supposed vacant bedroom' s supposedly empty bed, a boy in his early adulthood slept peacefully.

The peculiar sight enough to made him standing at the doorstep, gaping and inwardly panicking of what he should do in this kind of situation. Firstly of course waking up the boy so that he could have a nice proper conversation with him.

But unfortunately his startled step met a scattered books and the pile of books collapsed into a heap with a thump. The boy didn' t stirred one bit. He let out a sighed.

He didn' t want to scared the boy . His family managed an orphanage and he himself been raised at the orphanage .So , he know better than approach an unknown boy so casually especially one that didn' t want to be find.

Yes. He thought the boy a freeloader. Looking at the boy' s face closer, he looks younger than he seemed to be. Maybe around sixteen or fifteen years ol... uh oh, he' s waking up.

The boy blinked at him sleepily, then shaking his head as if trying chase off the sleepiness away. But the act made the horrible bedhair he was having into a mass of cream color cotton candy. Hiroto chuckled at his cuteness.

At the merry sound the boy scrambled off the bed and frantically raked a hand through his white blonde hair, to make himself more presentable. The boy has a droppy eyes in a rare beady dark marooned color with long eyelashes on his lower lid . The way his light tresses fell alongside of his shoulder blades and exquisite eyes reminded him of someone he knew so well he could that he could imagine the boy infront him would have the same gracefulness as the person he imagined.

he began" Hi , my name is Kira Hi..."

Unfortunately,right after the boy's eyelids opened big enough and focused on him when he spoke, the boy unceremoniously plopped back onto the soft matttress , His body bounced back that it made Hiroto flinched but the boy didn't seemed bother . Most likely , it was the necassary force he had used since his legs that should be toppled over the bed settled on the bed albeit it looked a bit uncomfortable.

For the dead to the dream world boy, his last thought before slipped into slumber was " i need a rest from these... nightmares. But again, since when did the nightmares came during weekend?" it was pointless to ask that is it even possible that nightmare could materialize like... for example the person infront him.

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" Midorikawa..."

"no"

"please"

"no"

" but you never said anything about a housemate"

"but I already got president's permission for this particular reason..."

"Midorikawaaaa..."

"stop drawling on every sentence you speak"

"then.." a curt cut.

"no!"

"I am your boss"

After a merciless "unfortunately" Hiroto hung up . He could felt Midorikawa 's rolling eyes at his antic and upcoming lecture about rightful manner at his office tomorrow. if people said it's a mistake to make your motherhen childhood bestfriend as secretacy, he would say it's already too late. Yep, definitely too late to change that now.

At least, the greennette left a small note that prevented Hiroto from calling police for someone trespassing his house , and called the said greennnette instead.

A small note that wrote "Hiroto-kun, lately you've been more careless in your paperwork, I think it maybe because no one is taking care of your welfare. So, I took the liberty in arranging you a housemate that will take care the house chores in exchange of renting fee. Luckily,and coincidentally, your new housemate is Terumi's cousin, Mashiro Takumi. Treat him well. Love, Midorikawa."

Right, lucky indeed. One word from this so called Mashiro Takumi will send his ears to see..err, listen to hell. Remind him again why his secretacy like to nag?

A few hours later found Hiroto worriedly checked upon the sleeping pile on the bed for pulse, just for some safety measure. He didn't want to be accuse murder of his roommate on his first day staying.

Now that his mind was cleared a than a montrosity that called paperwork regarding his rival company that was led by Mashiro family, it seemed the rival company ceo has nothing to do at the moment and decided to pester him with inquiries about their recent deals , a lot of them. in form of stacks of paperwork, which couldn't be sign unless by himself, he had not figured out yet the boy's name.

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It was seven thirty in morning by what he could discerned from blurry clock at wall. Damn, he's he descended stairs in rush that morning, he thought he would have to endure with no breakfast until lunch today. But when he wore his shoes in rush, a hand put a bento in his hand and wordlessly went to kitchen.

' huh? i didn't remember Hitomikonee- san mentioning about coming over. I am grateful though'

A few moment later in his posh car on the way to his office, he was pondering with a relax thought 'i won't be late today' he thought how he did his morning routine quicker than usual, and how he found his office attire ironed and hung infront his wardrobe.

Hitomikonee-san would never do that, he thought. He remembered his new house mate and gave a smile.

"Maybe it will not be that bad after all, I mean , having a housemate" somehow it felt like he just obtain a new housewife' he felt his lips curled up at the thought, not that he mind.

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" Hiroto, " a word, his name. Silently the older man followed the blond's gaze toward a knife he was using to cut the vegetable. today, they were making a hot pot to eat since it's around November and it's freaking cold. Hiroto gave the other man the wanted knife. After a month living together, he learned most of the man's habit. yes, it seemed he assumed wrong about the blond's age. Mashiro Takumi, his young white blond housemate is nineteen, a university student and and a part timer at his father's company, dislike talking without any real meaning,or more that he thinks it a complete waste of energy.

When he turned back toward his previous task, preparing the fire, he heard Mashiro chopped something on the chopping board. The vermiliion head didn't really sure what Mashiro up to since all the the dish already served on the table. He shrugged it off . The shorter male always knew his way around kitchen. Especially when he is the who prepared all the meals. in the end, the the young ceo can only sastisfied his part of responsibilities with buying groceries, but after Mashiro had once frowned upon his self bought groceries deemed as not healthy enough. Since then, they always out to buy groceries together. The younger male didn't talk much but he made himself clear about what he like and dislike. As example , no hogging sofa, no curry after midnight(Mashiro's specialty), no cursing about work, no sleeping inside study, and no skipping breakfirst.

A few minute later found himself knowing the what the extras Mashiro chopped down earlier when he horridly pulled out an apple cube between his chopstick.

"Mashiro, what is this?" he asked with an amicable looked up from his own bowl, throwing him a peace ' you don't know what's that' look.

" an apple cube , of course" a monotone answer. The innocent answer got a sickeningly sweet smile from Hiroto.

"and what an apple cube is doing in a hot pot, may I ask?"

"unngh, there's more you know . I put kiwis a s well"Mashiro nodded his head as if to show his point.

Hiroto should not be shock. Mashiro did put honey in their roll eggs and anything he could think of .after all,Mashiro's condo upper floor was reserved for experiments and books only and so full of them that there was no place to sleep much less cooked. Having a unique taste and ... stomach, Mashiro had no choice but buying another mansion. Unfortunately, goddess of luck didn't favored him this time, he didn't have enough money after he gone into books shopping spree three months ago.

" you are finished ?" Hiroto looked up from his daze when he heard sound of chair been pushed and a slow muttered 'thanks for he meal'

" yes, my brother gave me a new load of work, and I havent finished my assignment yet."

" I see"

"what do you want to eat tomorrow?"

"curry"

" no you cannot" this particular sentence pulled Hiroto's attention from his meal"you will get tired of them soon if you eat them too much"

"I won't"

"you will"

"I won't" Mashiro kept silence. Hiroto wondered if he had offend the younger male.

"fine then" Mashiro nodded. his dark marooned eyes hardly looked at Hiroto.

" remember to put your laundry in the basket soon, you always forget"

"yeah"he would never forget before but the feel to be spoil is too great to be ignored

The tomorrow morning found Hiroto staring at freshly baked buns with curry smell filled the air. Hiroto couldn't help but grinning.

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"Hiroto, what's your favourite color?" Hiroto blinked at the sudden question and once more when he looked over the newspaper he was reading Mashiro was rolling on the sofa opposite of with a loud plop after bringing their night tea on the tea table between them while smiling dreamily and making eyes contact with Hiroto's emerald ones. Blinking again at weird behaviour of his housemate, he answered," dark green and red." He forgot one and only Mashiro didn't made unnecessary eyes contact, unless...

" that so bad, I dislike red..." Mashiro drawled.

Absentmindedly he asked ," why" oh, how he wished he could take it back after Mashiro went into a rant.

" because my brothers really like red so much, like very much, much like. Everytime I bought power sentai dolls, they will go and took the red one like they own the toys,,."

"Ma... mashiro" Mashiro totally ignored Hiroto's interuption and continued ranting

"When I want them back they will said red didn;t fit me because of my eye color. What the heck it had to do with my eyes color . they are just jealous that among my family I am the only one that inherited them from my grandmother and they didn't, and, and , when I kept the black rangers, my sister will took the and tell me that I should not play with them "

Hiroto had desperate reaction on his face"...but she dress them up with frilly gown and put them in her room"

Hiroto stood and walked toward the ranting Mashiro, but the the younger male didn't realized that and continued her fullblown ranting" ...but she's older than by a four, no, six years...umm, Hiroto, didn't mean to offend but what are you doing with the tape?"

After a couple minutes of useless struggle agaisnt the older, taller, and bigger housemate, Mashiro successfully subdued. Hiroto plopped beside Mashiro tiredly.

"this is why you really should limit your sugar consume, i, myself, should have known that when you came out of you room with pjs top only" he totally ignored the muffled shout that was translated into " i wore shorts too, okay"

Hiroto only gave a dramatic sigh,

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Hiroto was poring over his paperwork with his laptop opened infront of him on the spascious desk. The door opened to reveal Midorikawa balancing two mugs in his hands, and shut the door again with a kick. Hiroto glanced a while at the abused door. Raising an eyebrow to his boss, Midorikawa put the mug on the desk far from any documents and took a sip from his his own.

When Hiroto capped the pen he was using and reached for his mug, Midorikawa this is the chance he waited for.

"so..." He drawled, seeing Hiroto passive reaction, he continued" how's your housemate?"

Eyes still attached to the laptop infront him he answered"never greater"

"huh?" the short answer was not the answer Midorikawa was expecting.

"He didn't have any classes or work today, he said he will made meatcurry pie today."

"ah" Not that it made any sense. Silence reigned the office. Suddenly , the greennette got an idea.

"nee, Hiroto. I noticed you never talk anything about him ever since we discuss about his background. You never even bothered to introduce him to me, I want to know what kind of person he is too~"Hiroto turned his gazed toward the greennette lightly leaned agaisnt his desk and for the first time he took in the greenentte appearance today . He wore his regular office attire consisted of a light lavender grey suit jacket and a red turtleneck underneath ,he pondered for a moment. Seeing that Hiroto's considering his suggestion, he added.

"I will clear all your schedules for today so that you could go home early and enjoy your beloved curry, I also want to meet Terumi-kun's cousin too, you know" Midorikawa smiled in triump when teal eyes turned to him and narrowing behind the half rimmed glasses as Hiroto smiled his trademark smile.

"fine, then. you can chose the date, I'll make sure he free," with the final sentence, he turned back to his work.

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Every human has their own way of bonding with the people they just met. For certain person, the bonding has to be done with patient and step by step, or not, the subject of bonding may back down soon. For this kind of person , word 'icebreaking' didn't exist in their vocabulary,let the time do the job so-called bonding. Just like the moment found the young 27 year old KiraHiroto and his company rival fourth son, Mashiro Takumi in Hiroto's study.

"that's not so nice memory you got there"

"yeah, they just leave me there alone. without any light and a pervert guide. in the end I made a trick to ditch the guide and then wandered off in the dark alone , luckily I remebered the way and walked to main road by myself where my aunt waiting worriedly after father and big brother come back without me."

"they never pulled the same prank again after mother scolded them severely, at least they will make sure I'm in a group or there's no pervert guide" Mashiro sighed.

'well, not the same prank, huh?' thought Hiroto.

" I had never go to your orphanage before," Mshiro muttered from behind the laptop. He was working on his assignment.

"ah, I'm thinking about visiting tomorrow, wanna join?" Hiroto looked up from his own laptop to see small line of smile made his way at Mashiro's face.

"sure, why not" came the short answer, hardly conceal the pleased tone.

The rapid sound of fingers swiftly dancing on keyboards filled the silence office.

"you know" the dark marooned eyes gave a quick glance to the speaker's teal one, Hiroto continued his drawled sentence,"don't mean to offend but you didn;t looks like someone who like children'

Mashiro felt his lips curled into a smile " none taken, I'm not exactly fond of them, but they remind me of when i take care of my younger siblings and cousins, but I would like to bring Rumi too. you know, he's all over children like they are his own. There's this one time I tried win a nephew over but he wouldn't even took the candies I offered and when Rumi come, he just swept the boy over his feet, That, I offended"

Hiroto chuckled " There's a boy at the Sungarden Orphanage that was very difficult to talk with. He didn't trust anyone else after his parents abandoned him at a shopping mall after promising him that they would come back. It took me a while to get close to him."

" let me guess," Hiroto raised an eyebrow" it's the boy you brougt to dinner last weekend? together with the green haired man, right? Misaki-kun and Ryuuji-kun."

Hiroto stop typing, before resumed his typing" yeah, the boy is Misaki-kun. But since when did you become so close with Midorikawa? you called him with his first name." ' not even me called him with his first name even though we practically friends for years' Hiroto thought.

Mashiro didn't even bothered to think of an answer" after I learned that he's the one who organized my stay here, we practically become friend, we also exchanged number phone and mail adress"

Hiroto made a mental note to ask for Mashiro's number phone from his best friend at office tomorrow morning.

"Misaki-kun too" Hiroto decided not to buy the newest pair of sneakers he thought of buying to Misaki-kun, not right now.

"Hiroto-kun, you want tea or coffee?" stretching in his chair ,Mashiro stood in his top pjs and shorts glory before went to kitchen with a short "coffee " from Hiroto.

Hiroto palmed his chin, his eyes followed the retreating figures until the figures disappeared behind the door.

"and I told him a lot of time that bear printed pjs and checkered shorts just didn't match together"

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He knew how rare it is for Mashiro to start a mindless chatting unless it was for asking personal question, but he relented and played straight into Mashiro's palm, or what he made Mashiro think, considering how blunt and obvious the chat about.

"I wonder how your company and my brother company become rival?" this blond really has no tactic or whatsoever.

"dunno, it just happen, one time we were talking about business, and one time we were talking about whose car is better." The older man hid the smirk that threatened to appear on his face, notably when Mashiro stopped typing his brother paperwork, that if from the red haired man's opinion should be done by a secretacy, in favour of making face at Hiroto's earlier statement.

"why are you comparing your car" he smirk gleefully this time when Mashiro made an incredulous face, only to blush later" your car is obviously better. I mean, my brother didn't allowed me to opened the window and he always complaint when I asked him to give me a lift"

The last sentence had Hiroto made a face, he dropped the younger male sometime when the blond even bothered to step out of the condo. Well , except when he had to go to class, or doing laundry, bringing out trash.

Hiroto decided to change the topic," you really don't know anything about cars, huh?"

"..."Hiroto raised an eyebrow at the quiet younger man,not that the younger man could see it. He's gazing downward and slightly pouting.

Finally , Mashiro spoke,"I know how to differentiate between transport I need to pay and whatnot."

The level of confident in the squeaky voice made Hiroto could not help himself but guffawed, especially when Mashiro spoke the sentence with a straight face.

"yeah, sure. Remind me how your brother ambushed me after you went back to your family home with taxi last weekend. Holy god, the one who finally sent you home was a travelling couple who thought you had lost." That received him a playful punch at the back. The older man totally ignored the murmured "everyone learnt from mistake" from the blond in favour of laughing his ass off.

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This would be the first time ever since he lived with one Mashiro TakumI he heard the younger one swear. Hiroto not an angel, a devil even sometimes when he felt like it, and while the blond always on natural side, the blond he notice never swear,or said vulgar wodrs.

Even Hiroto swore before, infront Mashiro on the second week thy live together making Mashiro banning any type of swear in the house, if he still want to eat the curry and deserts that he had long addicted to. At least, not infront him.

So, when the first time he heard the blond swore for the first time, seven month and twenty three days they lived together. The blond was in kitchen fixing breakfast. The older man came down sleepily, his sight still blurry even when he already had his spectacles on. He wanted to ask Mashiro if the blond see his tie anywhere. The tie had been compulsory when he started living with Mashiro, since the blond managed his office attire.

Back to the current situation, hearing Mashiro voice uttering "this persistent bitch" had his eyes wide open.

The red haired man walked closer to Mashiro who had his back to him while his shoulder lenght pale tresses knotted in a single low ponytail, grunting, and continued cursing. Mashiro must had not notice yet him approaching.

"what a bastard," this time , he sure that it was Mashiro who was swearing.

In a subtle yet a gentle manner, Hiroto latched a hand on Mashiro's shoulder,looking over his shoulder to see what exactly had made the blond cursed. it's a pot, apot that he tried to cook his favorite curry last night but anded up burned.

Don't even ask how the innocent curry ended up burned.

"good morning, genius," the tone laced with sarcasm, brought him back to cruel reality.

"ah"yet subtle and amiable tone.

"Ah?" Hiroto almost could hear the missing sarcastic'only!' in Mashiro's short sentence. It was not even a sentence actually.

"umm, want me to help?'

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Speechless, Kira Hitomiko was speechless everytime she entered her adopted little brother's now home. Correction, Hiroto not exactly a messy person, he's a clean freak, The reason why the headmistress always shocked was to see how lively the house was. Hitomiko, proudfully admit, his brother's keen eyes was result after years under her tutelage. Nothing escaped from her, or her brother sharp eyes. And for the same reason, the previous house he stay always looked empty, if not plain.

The fact that he often spend a night whether at Sungarden Orphanage or her house, which rarely now eversince she was married, or their father's mansion didn't help either. Truthfully, she didn't agree at first with Midorikawa's suggestion to give Hiroto a housemate, but now she's glad she allowed Midorikawa's intrusion with her little brother personal life. And another reason why she and Midorikawa even thought about letting Hiroto shared a house with someone else at all is because , the fact that Hiroto housemate is one Afuro Terumi's cousin. When they were younger, the for certain reason Midorikawa became a best friend of Terumi after Hiroto departure to soccer island to play for football final frontier.

She had known Terumi as well when the blond joined the team under her wing to get some experience. The first time she met Mashiro, she couldn't help but think of their similarities. They are cousin after all, they share the same gene so it was not surprising if they look alike with dark marooned eyes, fair skin, affeminate features and blond (white blond for Mashiro) hair.

"Okaeri,(welcome home), Hiro... ah! Hitomiko-san"

Think about the devil, she smiled at Mashiro, taking in the white blond's appearence, weird match of blazing red pjs top with green dinasour and organic pattern multicolor shorts.

Where did the original pjs bottom had gone and where the hell did he got the bizzare shorts from?

She broke from her train of thought and she saw that the young blond gazing down at her in adoration. Not that she's boasting, but for some unexplainable reson, he thinks highly of her. He would made effort to talk with her, or concious of her mood better than anyone else, even Hiroto puzzled by his obvious attraction.

"Im sorry for coming so sudden, I have work around here, so I'm thinking about droppng. "Hitomiko noticed a pair of unknown shoes at the foyer," i see you have a guest, if Im interrupting anything..."

"No you're not."Mashiro shook his head, then he smiled brightly, which always sucessfully made Hirotogave some kind of ' I wonder if he only smile at anyone else but me' sarcastic comment, and of course Mashiro ignored him" It's just Terumi. Hitomiko-san used to be his coach, right? Why don'tHitomiko-san join us for afternoon tea?"

"sure" Hitomiko arranged her shoes beside Terumi's and muttered" Sorry for the intrusion" before she followed through Mashiro to dining room with a last glance to the living room, which new frames of photos and drawings that Mashiro did himself, with some back force from Hiroto adorned the wall with other frames of photos of Hiroto's visiting teammates and children from the orphanage.

Some of them had Mashiro's family and friends too. Hiroto made 'cough' blackmailed 'cough' Mashiro frame all the drawings that he found in Mashiro's room.

True to his word, Terumi sat at the dining table when she entered the dining room. Terumi looked surprised but then smiled happily. He stood and bowed at her when he arrived at the dining table. Mashiro left to the kitchen to prepare some refreshment.

"Long time don;t meet you, Kira -kantoku(coach Kira), You looks great from the last time I meet you, your marriage ceremony, right?"Terumi smiled at her and offering the cake on the table.

Hitomiko took the offer and nibbled on one" same for you, I assume."

Terumi chuckled and moment, Mashiro walked in the dining room to see Hitomiko and Terumi discussing about recent news. They have a heated debate some politician whose the names Mashiro had heard for the first time. Rarely watching news himself, he nibbled on blueberry tarts Hitomiko had brought. Sometime , he made a comment when they began to discuss about some news he heard his courses friend talks about.

Afew hours later found Hiroto joined their long talk, which had turned into two debaters defending their own opinion, Mashiro focused at everything they said, being a good listener he is, but with defeated look on his face when both of Hitomiko and Terumi forced him to sided with their own opinion, which of course resulting Mashiro blurting a blunt and innocuous statement. The same innocuos statement was causing uproar at the dining room.

Using an excuse of making dinner, which way pass dinner now, Mashiro retreated to Hiroto's side with a grand pout.

" How come you didn't help me at all just now" Mashiro pretended to be sulking, Hiroto only chuckled darkly.

" It fun to see you squirming and keep glancing here for help. After all, you bring this upon yourself." Mashiro pouted even more, the argument did started with Mashiro'sinnocuos question of 'who's at wrong here' when the discusssion reached the recent battle of two top politician of two rival party.

"anyway, it suit them" Mashiro muttered and walked to the kitchen. Hiroto followed him into the kitchen, he wondered at Mashiro's final sentence.

He decided to pester Mashiro until he explain about what he had said. Knowing Mashiro, he won't say anything without a meaning.

After a few minutes worth of persuading, prodding , coaxing , and poking a ticklish Mashiro, and as expected, it's not easy. Finally, he used his last resort, he blackmailed him with Mashiro'sembrasing photo, quite cute if you ask anyone else, but as always, Mashiro's sense of shyness different from most people, he gave up.

" I mean that they are always on opposite side, but they are close to each other"Mashiro chuckled darkly" like me and my girlfriend."

Hiroto waited for Mashiro to continue, but he isn't.

"then?I'm sure that's not all, you looks quite sad" the truth is, Mashirodevoided of any emotion, but it worth of a try. He just drank too much of caffeinne today he wanted to poked at the expresionless facade a bit longer.

The blond who washed the vegetables shrugged" it's just that we are so different for each other that sometimes I wondered how we could pulled it through. I mean, even fates are tryng pulled us apart, we'd never got seats near each other even when we planned and tried so hard , there's always some hindrance. And... who put second hall across off the college, and and recreational club room far away from flowers arranging club,or changing ones names on morning's duty sheet when we are the class comittees"

Hiroto rested his chin on the back of his folded hands while he's wating for for Mashiro finishing dinner. It didn't took long , after all Mashiro's hand speed increases with his rambling 's speed, which practically , a mile every minutes.

But with every word Mashiro said he become uneasy, he's quite comfortable with the life he has now. He didn't want anything to change. Then he sighed,of course nothing is permanent in this world, everything will change one day as the new flow run through. But he really wished that it will stay this way any longer.

Hiroto smiled to his sister and his friend when they walked into the kitchen announcing that it's dinnertime(they are hungry) like the world are theirs. Maybe it is.


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